George Keith, the fifth Earl Marischal (d.1623) had four brothers: the turbulent Sir Robert Keith of Benholm (whose statue stands on the Wallace Tower in Aberdeen), the faithful John Keith of Troup, and the tragic William Keith. All were sons of William Keith, Master of Marischal (d.1580) and Elizabeth Hay.[1] In 1573, at about the age of 18, George and William, left Scotland for further education on the continent. Only George returned in May 1580.[2]
George and William first went to Paris (quite something for Protestant nobles to go there so soon after the St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre) to learn various martial skills, including horsemanship.[3] They then went on to Geneva, where they stayed in the home of Theodore Beza, the famous French Calvinist theologian and scholar. Here they were taught politics, history and chorography (a branch of what we would now call Geography).[4] However, here tragedy struck.
On 27 July 1577 Beza wrote to King James VI’s tutor, Peter Young.
De rebus nostris, caetera quidam omnia recte se habent, et ex animi sententia, sive Reipublicae ipsius sive Ecclesiae et Scholae rationem habeas, uno duntaxat casu excepto, quem ut apud te reticere nec possum nec debeo, ita facit ingens dolor, ut pluribus explicare tibi non possim.
In summa, D. Gulielmus Keith XXIIII Junii superioris, ingruente jam nocte, in planitie portis subjecta quam Planum Palatium vocant animi gratia deambulans, obvio sibi facto quodam ex praesidiariis militibus, quales nonlullos sibi Magistratus delegit, dum praedones illi Hispani per viciniam transibant, obortaque rixa, quum alioque pius et permodestus esset adolescens, vulnus quidem adversario inflixit, sed ab eo vicissim aliud accepit, priusquam et certantes posset dirimere, unde quatuor post horas obiit.
Percussor quoque noctis et fugae beneficio evasit in proximam, ut tu nostri, ditionem, ubi quomodo jus dicatur, tute meminisse potes ex injuria avunculo cuidam tuo sanctae memoriae illata.
Rem omnem ita uti gesta est, illustribus et potentibus Dominis Comitibus Mareschallis, patri videlicet et avo defuncti D Gulielmi, per literas.
Nihil hic, mihi crede, neque a magistratu praetermissum, ut ille oerditus prehenderetur, neque a nobis, ut bonus ille adolescens aequo animo moreretur, et honorifice pro more nostro sepeliretur, quod etiam publico scripto testatum esse voluimus, cujus as te exemplum mitto.
Turbavit nos magnopere illud factum, ac ipsa quoque rei novitas: siquidem totos annos triginta et amplius nihil tale est in hac civitate auditum.
In nostro quoque Jacobo Bryssono Deum tibi testor nullam ne levissimam culpam esse, ut qui tum intra urbem fuerit, nec istorum quicquam vel levissime suspicari potuerit, cujus etiam probitatem, fidem ac diligentiam tibi satis commendare non possum.
Quid hic vero facias? Ferendum profecto, quod mutare nequeas.
Rogo te vero etiam atque etiam ut avum et patrem…., idque ab iis impetres, ut nihil hic culpae neque in Magistratu neque in nobis residere sibi persuadeant, nec quicquam hic accidisse cujus causa noster Bryssonus ullo pacto redargui merito possit.[5]
Concerning our affairs, in other respects everything is quite in good order and according to our wishes, whether you consider the interests of the Commonwealth itself, or of the Church and the School, except for one incident only, which I can neither keep silent about nor ought to conceal from you; yet such great grief prevents me from explaining it to you at greater length.
In short: Sir William Keith, on the 24th of last June, when night was already coming on, was walking for pleasure on the plain below the gates, which they call the Plain Palace. There he happened to encounter a certain soldier of the garrison—one of those whom the magistrates had chosen for the guard—while those Spanish marauders were passing through the neighbourhood.[6] A quarrel arose; and although the young man was by nature pious and very modest, he inflicted a wound upon his opponent, but received another in return from him before anyone could separate the combatants, and from this he died four hours later.
The assailant too escaped, aided by the night and by flight, into the neighbouring territory (which, as you are one of us, you yourself can remember), where you know well how justice is administered, from the injury once inflicted upon a certain uncle of yours of blessed memory.
We reported the whole affair exactly as it happened by letters to the illustrious and powerful Lords the Earls Marischal, namely the father and grandfather of the deceased Lord William.
Believe me, nothing here has been neglected either by the magistrates, that the wretch might be apprehended, or by us, that the good young man might die with composure and be buried honourably according to our custom. We even wished this to be attested in a public document, a copy of which I send to you.
That deed troubled us greatly, as did the novelty of the event itself; for in more than thirty years nothing like this has been heard of in this city.
I call God to witness that our James Bryson bears not even the slightest blame in this matter, since he was then within the city and could not even suspect anything of the affair; and I cannot sufficiently commend to you his honesty, loyalty, and diligence.
What indeed can you do in this matter? One must certainly endure what one cannot change.
Yet I beg you again and again that you speak with the grandfather and father … and obtain from them that they persuade themselves that no fault rests here either with the magistrates or with us, and that nothing has happened here for which our Bryson could rightly be blamed in any way.
Beza does not mention George at all in this letter and it is unclear if he had anything to do with the issue.[7] We do not know of George’s opinion of the subject. He left Geneva to tour Italy and Germany thereafter, returning to Scotland three years later. Who is this James Bryson? That’s unclear at the moment, but he seems to have some dispute with the Keiths.
Beza was clearly anxious about the whole affair. He made special mention of George in his dedicatory epistle to King James in his Icones of 1580:
…insignis denique generis adolescens Georgius Keytus ab illustri patre Scotici regni Marescallo ad nos usque studiorum causa missus:…[8]
…and finally the youth George Keith, of distinguished family, sent to us for the sake of his studies by his illustrious father, the Marischal of the kingdom of Scotland.
and also sent George a copy, via Peter Young.
Adjunxi etiam examplar unum paulo minus eleganter illo Regis compactum, quod a vobis etiam velim illustri ac potenti domino Georgio comiti Scotae Marischallo offerri.Vides (mi frater) quam gnaviter sim impudens, semel preteritis verecundiae finibus.[9]
I have also attached a copy somewhat less elegantly produced than that of the King, which I would also like you to present to the illustrious and powerful Lord George, Earl Marischal of Scotland. You see, my brother, how boldly shameless I am, once I have passed the bounds of modesty.
Beza even composed a poem on William’s death, which appeared in his 1597 Poemata Varia.
NOBILISS. IVVENDIS GVI
lelmi Reithi, Illustris Domini, Guilelmi, Co-
mitis, Marescalli Scotie F. oborta rixa, Geneuae
interfecti, Memoriae.
Heu, Guilelme, quibus lacrymis tua funera, quona[m]
Fletu satis deplanxero?
Teneigitur pietatis amor, vitaeque beatae
Ardore pectus saucium,
Per maria & terras, Arctoae a finibusorae,
Genevae ad urbem adduxerint,
Inflicto (heu facinus) sceleratae vulnere dextrae,
Vitam Genevae ut poneres?
Insuetumque diu pacatae civibus urbis
In te inchoaretur scelus?
Nec te animi virtus iuvit generosa, suoque
Par corpus ingens hospiti?
Et quem sperabant auctum sperare parentes,
Corporis & animi dotibus,
Lugebunt vita cassum: saltemque iacere
Tellure patria celint?
Commissumque tibi (dicant fortassis) alumnum
Nobis, Geneva, reddito?
At vos lugubri vobis quoque voce Geneva
Audite quid respondeat.
Testor, ait, coeli verum mihi numen amicum,
Legesque testor patrias,
Displicuit facinus, quantum istisque piisque,
Par displicere civibus.
Nec culpa hic nostra sceleratus vivit inultus,
Vindicem habiturus alterum:
Quin etiam haec fanti coelesti ex arce Guilelm0,
Vos o parentes, credite,
Ne me, ne iuvenem indigna ceu morte peremptum,
Avus paterque, plangite:
Coelorum at potius subito sic arce recepto,
Uterque gratulamini.
Namque piis, ferro, placida seu morte quiescant,
Invenes, seneve mortui,
Quae vitam hac miseram lux terminat, haec simul aeui
Usum perennis inchoat.
To the memory of the most noble youth William Keith, [grand]son of the illustrious Lord William, Earl Marischal of Scotland, slain at Geneva after a quarrel.
Alas, William! With what tears shall I mourn your death?
With what weeping shall I lament it enough?
Did love of piety and of the blessed life,
with zeal wound your heart,
and lead you across seas and lands
from the shores of the northern world
to the city of Geneva—
only that (alas the crime!) you should lay down your life there
when a wicked hand inflicted a wound,
and that in you
a crime unheard of for so long
in that peaceful city should begin?
Did the noble strength of your spirit not help you,
nor your great body worthy of such a soul?
And the one whom his parents hoped would return increased
in the gifts of body and mind,
they will mourn deprived of life;
and would that at least he might lie
buried in his native soil.
“The pupil entrusted to you,” perhaps they will say,
“Geneva, restore him to us!”
But you, Geneva, listen also
to what answer your mournful voice gives.
“I call to witness,” she says, “the true and friendly God of heaven,
and I call my country’s laws to witness:
the crime displeased me as much
as it could displease you and my pious citizens.
Nor does the wicked man live here unpunished through any fault of ours;
another avenger awaits him.
Nay more—believe this also, O parents,
from heaven’s high citadel William himself speaks:
‘Do not, grandfather and father,
mourn me as a youth slain by an unworthy death.
Rather rejoice, both of you,
that I have been suddenly received into the citadel of heaven.
For whether the young or the old depart by the sword
or by a peaceful death,
the light which ends this miserable life
at the same time begins the enjoyment of eternal life.’”
The poem has three rhetorical movements: the Lament for William (lines 1–12), the imagined accusation against Geneva (by William’s kin), then Geneva’s defence and Christian consolation.
William was presumably buried in a churchyard in Geneva.
[1] Although George’s brother shared the name of his father and grandfather, and all four Earls Marischal to that point had been called William, this William was the second son.
[2] Boyd, W., A. Cameron, M. Giuseppi, J. Mackie and H. Meikle, eds, Calendar of State Papers relating to Scotland and Mary Queen of Scots 1547–1603, 13 vols (Edinburgh: HM General Register House, 1898–1969), v, 421.
[3] CSP, Scotland, v, 421, Peter Buchan,, An Historical and Authentic Account of the Ancient and Noble Family of Keith, Earls Marischal of Scotland (Peterhead: 1820), 51; William Ogston, Oratio Funebris, in obitum maximi virorum Georgii, Marischalli Comitis (Aberdeen: Edward Raban, 1623), 11.
[4] Ogston, Oratio Funebris, 11; H. Aubert and others, eds, Correspondance de Theodore De Beza, Tome XVIII, 1577 (Geneva: Musée historique de la Réformation, 1995), 141.
[5] Correspondence de Theodore De Beze, Tome XVIII 1577 (1995), 138-9.
[6] In my monograph on George I garbled this translation, assuming William had gathered soldiers to confront the Spanish bandits, but in this I got quite the wrong end of the stick.
[7] Aubert, H., Correspondance de Theodore De Beza, Tome XVIII, 1577 (Societe du musee historique de la reformation, Geneva, 1995), 138-139
[8] Theodore Beza, Icones, Epistle to King James VI (1580), f.4r.
[9] Correspondance de Theodore De Beze, Tome XXI 1580 (1999) Letter from Theodore Beza to James Lawson, from Geneva, 16th March 1580